Danish

Your learning journey

The Foundation course is perfect for absolute beginners, or those looking to refresh their knowledge. A free, no obligation 20-minute lesson is available as a taster.

Michel Thomas Foundation Danish

£80

Ten hours of structured learning takes you from the basic building blocks of the Danish language to creating your own sentences.

 

Listen as two students with no previous knowledge of the language are guided through the foundations of the language and join in as the third student in Michel’s class. Pause and respond when prompted to start to put your speaking skills into practice. The courses are unscripted: you hear the students’ real progression from absolute beginners to confident speakers – including their mistakes and the teacher’s corrections. You’ll learn in small, manageable steps, building your ability to produce ever more complicated sentences.

 

You will start with common and loan words, giving you a substantial starting vocabulary within your first hours of learning. By the end of the course, you will be confidently formulating sentences in the present, future and past tenses.

 

This course is taught by Anne Grydehøj according to the principles of the Michel Thomas method. Originally from Denmark, Anne Grydehøj now teaches on the Scandinavian Studies programme at University College London. She has also co-written Danish Tutor – Grammar and Vocabulary Workbook (Hodder and Stoughton, 2018).

10 hoursBeginner levelMaster three tenses

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• GBP: £80
• USD: $100
• EURO: €90

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Why learn Danish?

Danish is spoken by around 5.9 million people primarily in Denmark, but also by smaller population groups in Northern Germany, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands.

Danish is a key member of the North Germanic language family. With its roots in Old Norse, Danish shares close linguistic ties with Norwegian and Swedish, making it a vital part of Scandinavia’s rich cultural and historical tapestry. The similarities between the Scandinavian languages allow speakers of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish to communicate directly with each other using their own languages.

Historically, Danish was written in runes. Modern Danish uses the Latin alphabet, just like the English language but with three additional letters: æ, ø, and å. Unlike English, Danish has no direct word for “please.” Similarly, some Danish words, such as “hygge” (a cosy and relaxed atmosphere) and “arbejdsglæde” (satisfaction derived from work), have no exact English equivalents.

If you are already a fluent English speaker, you may be surprised by how many words in everyday use come from Danish. Words like cake, window, knife and sky are all derived from Danish (or its historical forms).

Learning Danish gives access to Denmark’s rich culture and storytelling tradition, including the works of renowned authors like Hans Christian Andersen, as well as popular films and TV series such as Borgen.

The Michel Thomas Foundation Danish course will guide learners through Danish pronunciation, vowel sounds, grammar, and key vocabulary, providing a solid foundation in the standard variant of the Danish language.